Have you ever turned on the tap in your home only to find red, rusty water gushing out? If so, you definitely have some iron in your well water. Whether it is coming from your pipes, the ground, or from another source, you should do something about it.
Yes, some iron in your diet is a good thing, but there is a big difference between digestible iron compounds and metallic iron itself. What’s more, large amounts of iron can cause a lot of irreversible damage to your body: Joint pain, fatigue, weight loss, and hemochromatosis which can lead to liver, heart, and pancreatic damage. Not to mention neurological damage in children. All these conditions are irreversible.
To this, we have to add the issues iron can cause in your pipes, fixtures, and appliances. Clogging, a drop in water pressure, leakages – needless to say, that removing iron from your well water is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Here comes the bad news: Iron can be somewhat difficult to remove, particularly if it is present in large amounts. If you’re a novice on the matter, let’s discuss some tips on how to best remove iron from well water.
1. Find Out Which Type Of Iron You Have
First of all, we need to differentiate between the different types of iron that can be found in well water:
- Ferrous iron
- Ferric iron
- Organic iron
- Bacterial iron
Ferric iron is the easiest to remove. It’s also referred to as red water iron and can be eliminated using simple mechanical filtration (sediment filters).
Ferrous iron is a lot harder to filter out. That’s because it needs to be oxidized to ferric iron for successful removal (see 3.).
The iron contained in organic compounds isn’t free to react which is why it isn’t the easiest to remove either. Not to speak of bacterial iron which can only be dealt with through disinfection.
You can find out which type of iron you have through testing. However, you probably won’t be able to test this yourself. But there should be plenty of laboratories in your area that can help you out!
2. Go With A Whole-House Water Filter
Iron and rust are not just dangerous to your health…they are also dangerous to your pipes and fittings. Because they never fully dissolve, they tend to build up at the “choke points” in your plumbing system. By definition, this means any place at which the opening becomes narrow. In practice, that means ruptured pipes and faucets that run slowly or not at all.
For this reason, it is more advisable to go with a whole-house water filtration system than a pou filter. This means that the water from your well will go through filtration before it reaches any point in your home. Put bluntly: Whole-house filtration keeps iron-tainted water out of all your pipes.
You will need to clean that filter from time to time, but that’s a lot better than drinking a glass of rust every day.
3. Consider An Oxidizing Filter
In order to get rid of ferrous iron, which is the soluble form of iron, you need to apply oxidation followed by mechanical removal. Thankfully, many iron filters combine both steps in one system.
Green Sand
One example is “green sand” filters that you may have seen before. They are one type of iron-oxidizing filter. The name green sand originates from the sand’s green color; it has been treated with manganese.
When iron-containing water enters an oxidizing filter, air injection or another oxidation method is used to convert soluble ferrous iron into solid ferric. After this, the resulting solids are filtered out with relative ease by the green sand.
To be honest, any good whole-house iron filtration system should include a filter process similar to this. It’s highly effective, it’s cost-efficient, it requires almost no maintenance, and it can be used even in cases of severe contamination. In most cases, the best iron filters for well water supplies are those which have been specifically designed for the very same.
4. UV Filtration Is Also A Good Idea
To be honest, we had to do some additional research when we first heard about this. The idea of using ultraviolet light to remove iron/rust from well water seemed unlikely. However, things are a little more complicated than we thought.
You see, the iron itself is not the only problem that comes from this type of contamination. There are certain types of bacteria (usually called iron bacteria) that can feed on iron and grow plentiful.
Because iron bacteria consume iron particles, they excrete something that is very similar to rust. Naturally, it can cause the same sorts of problems if it is allowed to build up in pipes. Iron bacteria can also become food for more dangerous sorts of bacteria that can do a lot more than clog your pipes.
We’ve already mentioned that the only way to deal with iron bacteria is through disinfection. Disinfection can mean shock chlorination, but it can also mean UV light treatment.
Have you ever wondered why bacteria, molds, fungi, etc. tend to grow in the dark? It is because they can be killed by intensive daylight. This is why you tend to find such substances in dark, wet places. UV bombardment gives people a way to disinfect water without using chemicals, and we hope that technology continues to grow.
Buy Or DIY?
Some people might be wondering if it is better to buy a pre-designed iron filtration system or to rig up a DIY unit.
In our opinion, if you can afford an iron filter based on oxidation, you should go for it. It will save you a lot of time and hassle. Iron is one of the most troublesome contaminants to remove, so DIY removal should not be attempted unless you know exactly what you are doing.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
Speak Your Mind